The orthodox Christian doctrine includes patriarchal views. It is commonly believed and taught in churches that women are divinely ordained to be submitted to males, to serve males, and that their divine role is to have children and take care of house. They are prohibited to have any spiritual authority, they cant teach scripture and doctrine or officially hold any office of a pastor, bishop or elder. Women are taught to submit themselves to their husbands in everything and take a secondary role in the marriage.

Churches that do ordain women pastors and allow their presence on the preaching podiums are often labeled heretic, too liberal, or under a curse. Female pastors and evangelists are many times an easy target for verbal abuse- such as name calling ( witch, Jezebel, feminist ..etc.) , and in many cases – they are forced to step down from the ministry.

Yes , the orthodox Christianity claims a monopoly on doctrinal and biblical interpretations and they are quick to hand out a “list of heresies to avoid” – among them being female equality with the male.

The intensity of patriarchal views and practices varies from church to church – and from denomination to a denomination. Some churches enforce head coverings for women as an outside symbol of submission and subservience , others prohibit women to wear some types of clothing ( pants ) or prescribe long hair , in other churches women may feel quite “free”, but they are still prohibited from exercising any leadership positions and are always reminded to “keep their place”.

In other words, there is simply no unison agreement among churches how far can patriarchy be enforced and what specific do’s and don’ts are for the female body of Christ.

While most Christian churches teach that we are in the age of grace and the Law is looked upon as done away with , or, hanged to a cross – they hypocritically feel free to prescribe unending set of laws for the female population of churches.

In my series ” The Patriarchy Gone Wrong” I will examine different denominations and their beliefs and practice when it comes to so called headship doctrine. As you will see, patriarchy qualifies as idolatry and it is a very destructive, dangerous practice to women and girls.

True Father does not approve of patriarchy. True faith includes women as full members of the Body of Christ , in which they are not only free to have spiritual authority, but in fact, they absolutely must follow the Holy Spirit and answer the spiritual call on their life.

I have to apologize for waiting so long to post the part 3 to my testimony “Soon to be Four”. There were several reasons for the delay. As many of you know, we have moved out of USA to be able to serve full time in the ministry and focus on our people – the people of physical Israel to come to know Yeshua , their Messiah. This move has been very stressful for me in several ways: loosing many of possessions, learning to live completely by faith without any secular job, homeschooling my two children ( two different grades) while continued deep research in the Bible and be the “cheerleader and true helper” for my husband Steve BenNun in his part of the ministry, as well as being the “main camera woman” in many of the projects we are undertaking.

What is even more of a reason for my delayed post is the fact that some of my Jehovah’s Witness family members discovered my posts and I went through a “living hell” and a new wave of persecution . Those who were ever in a controlling cult will understand the best what I am trying to describe. So I tried for the situation to calm down before I post part 3 to my testimony with the hope that the family members will forget about our site and take a brake from searching it and therefore the ugly threats and persecution would stop – at least temporarily.

Last, but not least, the English Language is my third language and it takes a great amount of effort to be writing anything in English for me, yet with the Grace of G-d of Israel who is my Helper and my Love of my life I will continue to write testimonies and articles in English Language.

Now, enough of “excuses” and here is the part three:

It was July of 2010. The marital separation was always more and more difficult on me and Steve. We loved each other very much, children missed Steve and my concern was that Arielah, our infant 10 month old daughter would never really know her father well enough since he was miles away. Every time my husband came for a visit, we had a great, loving time together and the only thing that prevented us to be together as a family was the fact that elders in North Florida have asked me to separate with Steve as he was a spiritual danger to me and my children.

Still, I believed that this separation was the will of “Jehovah” and that it would help my husband to start studying again with the elders and he would reconsider to convert to my “faith”. I did not realize then, that it was a form of “manipulation” , sort of a punishment , making Steve to suffer, making him to miss his family and children – and therefore force him to convert to the faith of Watchtower. In fact, this request- conversion to my faith- was my” ultimatum” given to Steve for me to return to him as a wife . ( this “forcing” method for relatives to convert to faith is a common practice among Jehovah’s Witnesses. They practice a “shunning” method for relatives, even parents, spouses and their own children” if they do not return to Watchtower, if they are dis fellowshiped, or , if they disagree with any point of the teachings and doctrines of the Watchtower Corporation).

Little did I know then, what Jesus would do for our family and how soon the situation would resolve – and definitely not the way I would have ever imagined.

One day, I have received a phone call from Steve from North Florida, where he has informed me that our business that supported us would soon close. The stress of separation, stretching of finances due to financing of two places ( North and South Florida) have taken its toll. The business was gone, closed. No money would be made to support our family. There was no other choice but for Steve to move to South Florida and start a job there. Under these circumstances I agreed for Steve to move in with us (I was actually overjoyed and could not wait for him to come), but there was ONE condition:

“We will never speak about the religion, ever! I will continue my faith and activities in the Watchtower Organization and Steve must never protest it . He may never question anything and must never speak about his own faith- to me or to our children”

During the nights , I often thought about why all this had to happen. Steve was with us in South Florida, starting a new business there, I started my studio for piano studies where I acquired many new piano students, we lived very happily, I continued my watchtower activities, educated my own children in the watchtower doctrines and Steve has kept the word- he never said anything, nor prevented me in any way to practice my religion. In South Florida, we never argued about religion. So why did we not agree on this life style in North Florida? Why we had to separate in the first place? Why did we have to loose well paid jobs and business? Could not we still live in North Florida with our jobs and business and just “agree” to “disagree”?

What I did not know at that time, was , that Steve was writing a book in secret- while keeping his word of not discussing a religion with me. In his book (Israel, are they still God’s people?) he wrote about many doctrinal points of Watchtower Organization and their lies. Also, Steve was going to work every day an hour earlier- he had daily early morning meetings with the group of born again Christians, where they daily, every morning at 6 AM prayed for me, so the Lord would open my heart and my eyes to the truth. I had no idea that all this was going on…

After the series of teachings on biblical equality, we were overwhelmed by the letters coming in every sort of questions on the peoples minds. Some of the concerns are that the Torah – known to Christians as the first five books of the Bible- teaches inferiority of the female sex in the eyes of The G-d of Israel. The scripture in question was Leviticus 12:2-5.

This biblical passage describes the “ceremonial” uncleanness of a woman after delivering a baby boy, for a period of seven days; and her subsequent purification for thirty-three days. After the delivery of a baby girl, the woman was consider unclean for fourteen days, with subsequent purification for sixty-six days- doubling the time needed for purification compared to that of the boy baby.

I have examined several teachings on the biblical passages found in Leviticus and was very shocked at what I discovered. Leviticus 12:2-5, is used in many mainstream Churches as their “proof” to defend the “subjection” of women and the view that The G-d of Israel has divinely ordained women to be only secondary to men. What’s worse is that this Biblical passage is also used to justify teachings on “female shame” that women should bear as the daughter of Eve. ( Eve is viewed as the first person responsible for sin and is cursed to subjection and obedience to her husband as the view of many pastors.)

In the case of a newborn boy, Moses recorded the following in Leviticus:

Then the LORD spoke to Moses , saying, ” Speak to the children of Israel, saying: “If a woman conceived , and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. She shall then continue in the blood of her purification thirty- three days. She shall not touch any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled ( Leviticus 12:1-4)

But in the case of a newborn girl, the scripture reads as following:

But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her customary impurity, and she shall continue in the blood of her purification sixty-six days (Leviticus 12:5)

At a first glance, in the above mentioned scripture, it seems that G-d is “punishing” women after the delivery of a baby girl as He deemed her “unclean” for double the time for that of a boy. However, the true reason is indeed very different and has nothing to do with female inferiority or G-d preferring boys over girls and punishing girls for their female sex. ( Even though some ministers would have you believe just the opposite).

What these ministers don’t tell you (conveniently) is that the ceremonial laws of ancient Israel were extremely complex and it was not just women that had issues of “uncleanness” due to their monthly menstrual cycles or the postpartum period of cleaning. ( usually six weeks). It was also males that have issues of uncleanliness, and quite frequent at that I might add! A man became ritually “unclean” any time he had an emission of semen. Even if he washed his clothes , his body remained unclean for a period of time too.

For example , Leviticus 15:16-18 reads:

When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man has a sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. ( Notice , it was semen emission that made woman unclean together with man, him making her unclean).

Now, mind you, if the emission of semen was biologically possible for a straight seven days – his uncleanness would be for that period of time. Imagine newly wed couple during their “honeymoon” a time of enjoying sexual relations daily- they were ceremonially unclean every day they had sexual contact . Why? Because of the emission of semen from the husband! So G-d did not “pick” on women to shame them for their monthly cycles or their childbearing periods.

The ceremonial laws of ancient Israel records many other events in which man would become unclean such as; touching a dead body, touching a dead carcass of an unclean beast or creeping thing, if they had any kind of injury where the “raw” flesh was appearing , or, even if Israelite entered a house where someone else was considered unclean!

Still, the fact that women were ceremonially unclean twice the amount of time after delivering a girl than that of a boy, has driven many ministers to abuse Leviticus 12, teaching that G-d simply prefers males over females. Many NT scriptures are used to justify this teaching and Leviticus 12:1-5 happens to be one of very convenient OT scripture to have on their list.

So lets get to the bottom of this.

In my early years I attended a Nursing College in East Europe. I was trained professionally as a nurse- midwife in the town called Michalovce in the Slovak Republic.Although I do not practice the wonderful profession of a midwife today, yet surprisingly many things I learned in anatomy and physiology, gynecology , obstetrics and pediatrics I still remember. And yes, I could even professionally deliver a baby if needed today.

One thing that is important to understand is that during pregnancy, a mothers hormones enter the bloodstream of her fetus. After the delivery of a baby, the baby still has their mother’s hormones ( such as estrogen) in his or her blood. As a result, baby boys may have enlarged breast tissue underneath their nipples, even releasing some drops of white watery discharge.(breast milk) Baby girls usually have, besides swollen breast tissue like the boys, they may also have a milky white mucus or even bloody discharge from their vagina. It is called “withdrawal bleeding” a condition similar to that of a woman’s period. The baby girl may show signs of red droplets of blood in their diapers mixed with mucus.

These types of conditions in a newborn girl is absolutely normal ,it is a result of their mothers hormones still present in the baby’s bloodstream and usually resolves itself within 7-14 days according to the medical community! It is important to note here that baby boys do not have a bloody discharge like that of baby girls after delivery. None the less G-d Himself knows just how long these issues may occur subsequently we may see the reasoning for His timing for purification.

The Almighty our Creator knows the anatomy perfectly – He made each one of us. He is very well aware of whats going on in the female body during pregnancy and in the body of newborn baby be it a boy or girl. Even though there is no formal explanation in the Torah of the reason for why women were ceremonially unclean double the time after the delivery of a female child, the truth is , that little newborn girl would be “ceremonially” unclean double the time of that of a boy because the hormones left over from her mother could possibly cause her to have vaginal discharge or even bloody discharge. ( One must remember any kind of bodily discharge made man or woman unclean). Therefore until the mother’s hormones left the baby’s blood , and the discharges would stop, the little girl was considered “unclean”.

Her mother – a woman who birthed the child- was unclean because she, as a mother, had constant contact with the baby- feeding it , diapering it and caring for it. We have mentioned above that a person was ritually unclean even for touching another unclean person being man or woman…

It is reasonable to conclude then, that the Creator who gave Israelite’s such laws , would make sure those laws were perfectly kept. Since He knew the physiology of birth and after birth, He made a provision for woman and the baby girl to come to a ceremonially clean state after the hormones left the baby’s blood and the discharge would stop. After all, He has blessed parenting and He loves boys and girls just the same. May His Blessed Name be praised forever and ever!

I hope this article has helped you to understand that The G-d of Israel is not a respecter of persons. He is a wonderful , caring, and loving Creator of us all. He loves us more than we could ever comprehend. Yes, He loves boys and He loves girls, men and women just the same and we are all precious in His eyes. Amen.

The next several months had been very difficult on our family. I moved to South Florida with my two little children, Ethan was then five years old and Arielah eight months old. I left behind my work as an owner of private school of music , as a pianist and teacher, my house , my friends and my husband Steve. At this point all I cared for was to protect myself and my children from a certain “spiritual danger” .

With all of my heart I believed that the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses was infallible and I recognized the men – elders in the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses to be my “spiritual heads”, the final authority over me. If they have told me to stand on my head every morning – I would do just that. I was not aware that I was brainwashed and a victim of a dangerous abusive cult.

See, my behavior at that time was typical of any Jehovah’s Witness you meet at your door. Despite the fact that these people smile and claim to be “the happiest people on this Earth”, they are under serious mind control and their allegiance is solely to an organization based in New York (USA) where eight men, the governing body, decide all the doctrines and rules of conduct for each Jehovah’s Witness.

I can only imagine the pain I have caused my husband Steve. One day returning from work, he found our house empty and without his wife and children. To my surprise, Steve continued to show love to me and he worked very hard to support his family. He regularly sent me finances to care for the children and paid my housing in South Florida. Yet , after a few months , the decision to separate from Steve took its toll. As much as my husband tried to keep up the support of two places – one in North Florida where our house was and another one in South Florida where I rented an apartment, our finances were stretched to the limit as I could not work due to increasing stress that lead to deep depression.

I still loved Steve very much and prayed daily to “Jehovah” for restoration of our marriage and conversion of my husband to my faith. Thinking that “Jehovah” would only hear my prayers if I do more for Him, I increased my field service hours – house to house preaching and immersed myself in the doctrines of Watchtower even deeper. I surrounded myself only with the sisters and brothers from the Watchtower Organization where I received a great deal of emotional support .

That’s right! Soon to be FOUR! It is the birth by Spirit that truly matters. (No, I am not going to reveal how old I am in my flesh:))

One beautiful sunny day in August of 2010 Yeshua delivered me from the bondage of religion. Praise HIS name!

I was born into a religion of the Watchtower Society , inc. These people are known as “Jehovah’s Witnesses”. It was my mother that overlooked the spiritual life in our family. My father only followed , mostly to keep the” peace” . I used to spend countless hours preaching “house to house” the Watchtower version of the Gospel and tried to live by peculiar rules of this religion.

After my marriage to Steven BenNun, I was challenged on the identity of the Messiah. After all, Steve knew Tanakh and was a Jew by birth. He believed in “Yeshua” as his Messiah, yet it was not the same “Messiah” I knew from the Kingdom Hall. We married despite our huge religious differences and it was not an easy route.

I loved my husband with all of my heart ( it’s easy to love such a tender soul), but I also believed that Watchtower Society is the only organization on this planet that has the “truth”. Being born in it, this was the only religion that made sense to me. I tried with all my might to persuade my husband to become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. To compromise, he has agreed to study with the elders of my local Kingdom Hall. I awaited eagerly his conversion to my “faith” and prayed several times a day that “Jehovah” would unite our family in spiritual matters. While every area of our married life was close to perfect, when it came to “religion” we had huge fights. In fact, it was so bad, that I believed our marriage would not survive, unless Steve converted to my religion.

What I did not know, was that Steve while studying with the elders of my Kingdom Hall, was writing a book in secret refuting their doctrines. He hoped that one day I would read the book and understand the reasons why he could not convert to my faith. See, by studying with the elders, Steve was learning the doctrines and rules of Watchtower Society in depth , but also challenging elders by The Scriptures on several doctrinal points.

When his “study” time had ended, one of the elders came to me privately and told me: ” Sister Jana, I have bad news for you… your husband will never be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In fact, he is a “spiritual danger” to you and your children. You must come to a private meeting at the Kingdom Hall , we will arrange a time for you to meet with two other elders”.

With the broken heart I had agreed to meet with three elders in the Kingdom Hall. They had informed me, that Steve was a spiritual danger to me and my children , and they, as my “spiritual heads” were advising me to separate from him (not divorce him). They suggested that I leave for South Florida where my exemplary Jehovah’s Witness sister by flesh lived and she would help me during this difficult time. They had also arranged a new congregation for me in South Florida where I would be attending regular meetings.